Last updated on October 12, 2023 by Formidable Team

How To Make a WordPress Viral Quiz

Want to make a WordPress viral quiz but not sure where to start? This guide will show you how to make a WP viral quiz step-by-step!

How to Make a WordPress viral quiz

Approximate read time: 6.5 minutes

Having a quiz go viral is like catching fish.

You wait a long time, almost give up hope, and finally, a big one bites. But, creating an endlessly shareable quiz doesnโ€™t have to be as difficult. In fact, it can be fun and easy.

And this post will show you exactly how to do it.

Using the best WordPress quiz plugin, youโ€™ll build a quiz website that gets shared more than an open WiFi signal. 

And that plugin is Formidable Forms.

First, letโ€™s look at what makes a quiz go viral.

What features make an excellent WP viral quiz?

A quiz is considered โ€œviralโ€ based on its social shares and social media attention.

If it spreads across the internet faster than conspiracy theories, itโ€™s a major success. Miss this train, though, and your quiz disappears forever.

Disney Princesses are a common WordPress viral quiz

Okay, maybe weโ€™re being a bit dramatic.

But figuring out what makes a quiz go viral is like cracking the DaVinci Code. There are a few things that do help, though:

  1. Be relevant. Quizzes that focus on trending topics tend to get shared more. So, pay attention to pop culture, news, and more to find inspiration for a sensational quiz.
  2. Have a catchy title. People scan information on the internet. That means your title means a lot to bring in visitors. Spend time thinking of something worthwhile.
  3. Make the quiz results shareable. This seems obvious, right? But, is there a way you can make it more enjoyable? Appealing graphics, personalized results, and more are all great ways to do this.

Follow these three rules, and youโ€™re on your way to the Viral Hall of Fame!

But what type of quiz should you use?

Formidable Forms makes advanced site building simple. Launch forms, directories, dashboards, and custom WordPress apps faster than ever before.

What types of quizzes are best for a WordPress viral quiz?

Many quizzes exist, but not all are shared the same way.

But first, letโ€™s highlight the types of quizzes that exist:

So, what quiz types lead to shares?

After all, a poll and a knowledge quiz have different goals. And, people simply like some quiz types more than others.

So, there are three quiz types that go viral more often than others:

  1. Trivia quiz
  2. Knowledge quiz
  3. Outcome quiz

Why these three?

Trivia quiz

Trivia and knowledge quizzes are similar and are often presented as challenges. For example, here is Buzzfeedโ€™s most viral quiz from March 2022:

Harry Potter trivia quizzes are always viral

If we look at our list of ways to make your quiz go viral, this quiz checks every box. Harry Potter is always relevant. The title is catchy and challenges the visitor. And the quiz can easily be shared among friends.

Knowledge quiz

The same is true for the following knowledge quiz, which was one of Buzzfeedโ€™s top quizzes of all time:

A knowledge quiz is an excellent way to challenge visitors to get them to take the quiz

Relevant? Check. Catchy title? Check. Shareable? Millennials and Baby Boomers both shared this quiz endlessly, with over 1 million people taking the quiz.

Now letโ€™s look at our last type of WordPress viral quiz: Outcome quizzes.

Outcome quiz

Know the saying, โ€œSaving the best for lastโ€?

Well, outcome quizzes may be the most effective tool for having a quiz go viral.

Letโ€™s look at one of the most taken quizzes ever:

Outcome quizzes are some of the most popular quizzes on the web

Here, we have a simple outcome quiz. The user answers the questions, and the quiz slowly starts tallying up to determine which state the user belongs in. Such a simple quiz but so effective.

And it meets all three requirements for a viral quiz

Itโ€™s relevant. And you may think only for people in the United States. But, even a person from another country could take this form to learn more about the different states!

Also, it has a catchy title. Itโ€™s challenging the user with the word โ€œactuallyโ€ and is memorable.

Last, itโ€™s shareable. People love to see their state and want to know what their friends and family will get, too! And thatโ€™s why people took this quiz over 48 million times!

Follow these three rules, use these types of quizzes, and youโ€™ll have a viral quiz in no time.

Now, letโ€™s learn how to actually make a quiz in WordPress using a handy plugin.

How to make a WordPress viral quiz with Formidable Forms

To get started, youโ€™ll want to grab the Formidable Forms plugin and get it installed and activated.

Formidable Forms is one of the best WordPress quiz plugins for creating Buzzfeed quizzes. Featuring a simple drag and drop builder, one-question-at-a-time quizzes, templates, and so much more, you canโ€™t go wrong with this plugin.

So, head to our pricing page and grab it before you continue on.

But weโ€™ll get to why Formidable is your best option in a moment. For now, letโ€™s go over the 3 easy steps:

  1. Create a quiz form and add fields
  2. Choose your quiz type
  3. Set your outcome logic
  4. Display your WordPress viral quiz
Formidable Forms pro plans

Step 1: Create a quiz form and add fields

Now that you have the plugin set up, head to your WordPress dashboard.

From here, go to Formidable โ†’ Forms and click the Add New button. Next, choose Blank Form, and give your form a name.

Click Add New to start building your form

The plugin will take you to Formidableโ€™s form builder, where you can start dragging and customizing your fields.

You have many form fields to choose from, but these are the most common with quizzes:

  • Text
  • Radio buttons
  • Checkboxes
  • Likert Scale

Decide what works best for you and begin customizing your quiz form.

Formidable's drag-and-drop builder makes creating forms simple

You can add conditional logic to your quiz if youโ€™d like to change the questions a user gets. All you have to do is click a question and choose Add Conditional Logic in the field settings.

Once youโ€™re finished, click Update and head to step two.

Step 2: Choose your quiz type

Now that we have your fields, letโ€™s make your form into a quiz.

For this, go to Settings โ†’ Actions & Notifications. You have a couple of options here:

Choose the type of quiz you want to use

Youโ€™ll choose Scored Quiz or Quiz Outcome, depending on your quiz type. 

For example, if youโ€™re making a trivia or knowledge quiz, itโ€™s best to choose Scored Quiz. If youโ€™re making a personality or outcome quiz, then itโ€™s best to choose Quiz Outcome.

We will use a Quiz Outcome to make a viral Harry Potter quiz for our post.

Once you choose the option, youโ€™ll see a menu appear below with multiple field options:

You can adjust the quiz outcome settings

Here, you can change a few things with your quiz:

  1. Change the action name (only you see this)
  2. Choose when to trigger the outcome
  3. Upload an image to attach to your outcome
  4. Add any results you want to show with the Visual/Text editor
  5. Add more outcomes
  6. Add the conditions for the outcome to be met

For example, if weโ€™re making a Harry Potter Hogwarts House Quiz, we want to upload images for each house. And we want to customize the text with the result.

The endless possibilities are there for you to customize to your liking.

Step 3: Set your outcome logic

Now you have to choose what answers will lead your users down the correct path.

For example, we want to choose answers that will lead visitors toward one of the four houses at Hogwarts. But, we must define which answers will lead to what house first.

So, to do this, choose the Add Outcome Conditions button you saw in the last step.

Choose your outcome conditions

So each outcome will have its own answers. Easy, right?

But, what if you want to weight the answers to make some questions more important or less important?

Easy, simply add the same outcome condition multiple times.

You can weight your answers with the same outcome condition multiple times

The result with the highest number of submissions at the end is the winner. If thereโ€™s a tie, the outcome with the lower ID is the winner.

Once youโ€™ve customized your outcomes, click Update, and itโ€™s on to showing your form on your WordPress site!

Step 4: Display your WordPress viral quiz

Displaying your form is easy with Formidable.

There are two options: use the WordPress block or a piece of shortcode.

For the WordPress block, simply go to the post/page you want to show your quiz. Add a new block, and search for the Formidable WordPress block and add it. Choose your quiz from the dropdown menu, and your quiz is ready to go!

Choose the Formidable WordPress block to easily display your quiz

For a piece of shortcode, go to Formidable โ†’ Forms and click <> underneath Actions. Choose Insert Manually, and copy the WordPress shortcode. Last, go to your post/page and add a shortcode WordPress block.

Getting the shortcode to display your quiz is simple

Paste your shortcode in it, update the post, and youโ€™re set. You've made your quiz!

Create endless viral quizzes with Formidable Forms

As you saw from the guide, Formidable Forms is extremely easy to use.

There was a reason we said itโ€™s the best BuzzFeed quiz builderโ€ for WordPress websites! And everything the plugin offers shows it.

There are other quiz makers โ€” HD Quiz, WP Quiz, Quiz Maker, Quiz and Survey Master.

But, none of them match the power of creating engaging quizzes with Formidable. As you saw above, our plugin doesnโ€™t only handle outcome quizzes. It handles all quizzes.

From online exams to chained quizzes and everything in between, Formidable has you covered.

Check out our full list of features to see how Formidable can truly transform your quizzes.

Are you ready to make a WordPress viral quiz?

This post showed you a lot.

You learned what makes quizzes go viral and the best viral quiz types. Also, you learned how to make a viral quiz yourself using Formidable Forms!

This simple WordPress quiz maker makes creating your questions and answers simpler than ever. So, donโ€™t waste time. Grab Formidable and get started on your viral quiz! Weโ€™re excited to see what youโ€™ll create.



This article may contain affiliate links. Once in a while, we earn commissions from those links. But we only recommend products we like, with or without commissions.

Complete your purchase
Special offer unlocked.
Get 55% OFF!
Complete Purchase
Join 400,000+ using Formidable Forms to create form-focused solutions fast. Get Formidable Forms